Run JavaScript after all window.onload scripts have completed?

Question

I have an asp.net page that loads some JavaScript scripts. One of those scripts loads some controls into the page appending them to the body in the window.onload event.

I need to inject a script via code behind to call a method of the scripts that depends on the controls created in the window.onload. This doesn't work because every call I make it's always to early and the controls are not created at the moment. If I call it by, for instance, onclick in an hyperlink it works because the controls were already created in the onload.

So:

1. <script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/somefile.js"></script>

2. addEvent(window, "load", blabla); - the js above prepares some controls to be appended to the body on the onload event

3. In the code behind I try to write a script to the page by this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript or this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptBlock or whatever way that should call a method on the .js above, which depends on the control loaded on the onload event. This step fails because the control is not in the DOM yet.

Any suggestion on how make the call after the window.onload event?

Lymph

Answer 1

create an array of functions:

<script>
  var onLoadFunctions = [];

  function addOnLoad(funcName) {
    onLoadFunctions[onLoadFunctions.length] = funcName;
  }

  function executeOnLoad() {
    for (var i=0; i<onLoadFunctions.length; i++) onLoadFunctions[i]();
  }

  addOnLoad(foobar);
  addOnLoad(blabla);
  addOnLoad(theother);

  window.onload = executeOnLoad;
</script>

System

Answer 2

You can register the js file like you register the startup script:

this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("scriptKey", "/Scripts/somefile.js");

Gym

Answer 3

Instead window.onload, you can use document.onreadystatechange event for this,, below the sample snippet..

document.onreadystatechange=onReady;
  function onReady() {
      if (document.readyState=="complete") {
         alert('The document ready state is "complete"') 
      }

Brie

Note that onreadystatechange is a Microsoft-extension. It's not supported by Mozilla (the engine behind Firefox). developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/document.onreadystatechange – Pedate

@jan, yes its right... OP mentioed ASP.net.. so i just though IE is relevent.. :) – Brie

All of the readyState change events occur BEFORE onLOad. So this doesn't work at all. – Lindsley

Answer 4

option 1: Use timeout within onLoad to schedule your script to run later.

function mustRunLast () {
    // your "must run after everything else" code here
}

document.addEventListener('load', function(){
    // adjust the delay as you like, 500 millis is a bit long
    setTimeout(mustRunLast, 500)
})

The above forces you to guess how long it will take for your other onLoad scripts to finish. To play it safe, you'd have to use a long delay, but that is probably undesirable. But if you have some state that you can check to verify that the other scripts you're depending on have run, you can use a short delay and have the script keep retrying until things are ready:

option 2: Have your script check if things are ready, and schedule a retry for later if not

const mustRunLast = function() {
    // check some state to see if the other scripts
    // did their thing. If not, schedule self to retry later
    if (<not ready yet>) {
        setTimeout(mustRunLast, 50)
        return
    }
     
    // your "must run after everything else" code here
}

document.addEventListener('load', mustRunLast)

Lindsley

Answer 5

If you can use jQuery

then you can call the script after the DOM load is complete.

$(document).ready()

Introducing $(document).ready()

Liebermann

No, I can't. I mean, I could but for some reasons not interesting to this space, I need to stick to plain javascript, no libraries. But tks for the suggestion. – Lymph

Answer 6

Using Prototype JavaScript, you can have scripts called when the DOM is ready (see the API here):

document.observe("dom:loaded", function() {
  alert('The DOM is ready.');
});

I would recommend moving the script that loads in the onload event to the dom:loaded event.

Hinojosa

OP is specifically asking that the script run AFTER onload scripts are done. Sure moving them earlier might work, but that might break other things. – Lindsley

Answer 7

I tried several approaches with no success. I just changed the business requirement and the script is fired by an user action, as opposed to a script injected via code behind.

But for someone looking for an answer, there are several possible candidates that may solve the problem in your case.

Lymph